Choosing a house color and the importance of getting quarts to test the color before you purchase 5 gallons plus. D painted up 6 possible choices and we were looking at them in the shadow and light today. I noticed two of the colors were very grey and was puzzled why he would even paint those up since we are both more green/grey than blue/grey people. We compared them to the original paint chips and discovered that three of the choices were so off that it was a completely different color. Always buy a test quart before you start painting. It may seem like an extra expense but in the long run ... will save you some frustration. And in this case, I am returning these for the right color or my money back. ;0

These first three are the miss-tints.

Churchill Hotel Olive

Mossy Aura

{later}

D made a trip back to the hardware store ... showing them the large painted pieces of plywood and they said ... well, there will always a "shift" in color. And he said not this much "shift". So they remixed those colors and D painted a swath on the two colors in question and they immediately saw the difference. Of course ... this is a big waste of time on D's part. ;( See the new colors below. They remixed a couple of more for a much closer match.

When I was adding a techno song to my MySpace, this ad popped up. If you are one of the people who clicked on this and think these men live in Edmonds, Wa ... I've got some land in Florida I want to sell to you.

My weekends and time off this summer have been consumed with home repair and upgrades and this weekend is no different. Ron has been waiting for the weather to cooperate to start pressure washing, prepping for painting. We cleared the house (even more) and made the hard "cut" on the honeysuckle. With the clematis looking very sad, Japanese anenomes trampled to the ground, the backyard looks naked and still a mess. I am thinking we won't be able to have even one dinner out there before the rains come! But these things must be done. I helped scrap old paint so I could survey the damage ;( We picked out a couple of colors. D painted some plywood so we could make that final decision today. Insulation blown in, check. Replacing basement windows, check. Deck restained, check. Lawns thatched and reseeded, check. Most bushes pruned, check. Firewood split, check. Paint house ... check, if the weather holds up.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

I might be jaded because I am a yellow dog democrat. Were you not moved by Gore's speech and the Obama speech? Great thoughts. Bridging the gap of party lines and attempting to bring this country inline with what we need to cope with in the future. Inspirational and full of hope, ideas and direction. Tonight, I am proud to be an American.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

I stumbled Gabriel by Lamb on YouTube. I can't get out of my head, haunting and beautiful. Lou Rhodes, singer and songwriter. The song is a couple of years old, you should listen if you haven't heard it before.

This is hardly worth stooping so low to blog about this horseshit but on HorsesAss.Org: Smear as a three dollar bill, “$3 bills” depicting Barack Obama wearing Arab headgear and featuring a camel. Oh, boy. I am not even going to go into this.

We got a surprise package from Ruth today. She sent mom a fabulous ring from Silpada with interchangeable colored glass orbs.

She also sent us our favorite cologne that mom and I are addicted to for an after-shower-splash. We are totally out to the point where we were rummaging through each other's bathroom trying to find out if the other had a "stash". I got my favorite Danish Wedding cookies that I can not buy in WA state (what is wrong with this state?). She also sent me a Frankoma sugar bowl in the wagon wheel design to match the teapot that Katie had given me.

So to make my day complete ... have spent the entire day pruning, severely pruning the clematis to ready the house for painting. You know the clematis will grow all the way to the roof! Haven't pruned it in many years (note to self -- prune clematis every OTHER year). Remember how wonderful it looked? Well, now it looks terrible. I am hoping I haven't killed it! Will need to cut the honeysuckle down. So with the hydrangeas all but gone this year. No honeysuckle or clematis. I am not feeling sad about that! Must be done, painting the house next week.

Tomorrow, volunteer to work at the Mountaineersheadquarters with our neighbors at 8am. Celebrate Matt's birthday with a brunch (he wants to have eggs benedict). Birthday party for another friend at 1pm ... then must go to bed early. Going back to work Monday 6am! Trying to head off to an office party right now.

I think to avoid complete confusion, we are going to have a birthday dinner at home for Matt next week, with cake and his girlfriend, Bri.

Paul Lowe's - Crafts Portfolio on Vivian Artists makes me feel like I just stepped into a bright light and makes me want to cry with happiness. His prop sets are breathtaking! Look at his sexy pears on his blog. I guess because it is all beautiful. And in my line of work now I am recently being told that I am not there to make things "pretty" but functional. I hear that statement a lot and it always makes me want to run outside and have a good cry.

Friday, August 22, 2008

This is my first attempt at a video. Very embarrassing but this assemblage needs to heard not just seen. I took the 50th birthday present a little further. I wanted to pass on the "5" "0" vintage numbers I bought myself two years ago. Decided to make an assemblage with my favorite wind chimes I found at a garage sell so many years ago. Added 50 monopoly dollars, 50 real cents, a bottle of 50 hydrangea petals, 50 dried hyacinth blossoms, 50 shells, 5-0 in dominoes, fifty spelled out in scrabble letters, 50 "happy birthday" messages stamped on very old papers, 50 cut off a measuring tape .... and one girl diving in, because the 50-year-old-water is fine! So sorry about the weird audio ... obviously, making video is not my "thang". ;) Do you hear my "twang?" (All of this repeated in the video if you don't want to watch).

Oh, and one more thing. I only attached the 50 in the back of the piece. I decided to leave everything else free to be moved, maybe some other things to be added. We will write our message on the back and skip the card.

Noticing Project is a collaborative endeavor between artists Alicia Alferman and Heather Smith Jones. The notion of the project is to look intently and observe the small or ephemeral moments around us.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Writing words for these two pieces I have been working on in my "off time" the last couple of days. Today, insulation blown into walls and a surprise birthday present for my son. Tomorrow, M tries out for Jazz Band (Grandma Alert), Dr. appt ... getting to the end of vacation, panic setting in, trying to cram it all in ;)

Have you seen T. Boone Pickens talking about his plan? I finally looked him up and I agree. Why haven't we started using solar and wind to the fullest capacity? We have been talking about this oil crisis for how many years? Why haven't we turned to other resources? Go look over his site ... add your voice.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

It wasn't that hot yesterday, but hot enough to tempt me to take to the sofa, under a fan and near the TV. Mom and I spent the day watching most of The Tudors, Season 2. We found it on Showtime (thank you, Dee). During the heat, we powered through most of Season 2. What fun! Okay, let me clarify. What fun to watch, but man, I wouldn't want to be a woman living and trying to survive in those times. I fear I wouldn't have kept my head for long.

The Royal Collection, "Shaped by the personal tastes of kings and queens over more than 500 years, the Royal Collection includes paintings, drawings and watercolours, furniture, ceramics, clocks, silver, sculpture, jewellery, books, manuscripts, prints and maps, arms and armour, fans, and textiles."

Friday, August 15, 2008

Haven't participated in awhile ... "shine" for SPC. Perfect summer day with the sun is in full shine today with a slight breeze ... reaching high 80's ... my re-stained deck, done ... all shiny and new(ish) ... I am on vacation ... so (we all) shine on.

After the back looked great with the new walkways completed ... we had to take it one step further and completely mess is all up again.

D and I decided we needed to pressure wash the deck and re-stain. While D was renting the pressure washer, I guess he decided the grass should be thatched ... so thatching, racking, reseeding in progress. He also decided while thatching the front yard that we needed to dig out a part the yard that doesn't get sun and put down another walkway.

Trying to get estimates for blowing insulation in the walls before the house gets painted, which will all happen in the next two weeks. The next couple of days, M and I will re-staining the deck. Wow, did I say I was on vacation.

Between some of this, I am trying to do some of my own art, some sewing, cleanup the sewing room. Day 4, vacation!

Discovered on Veerle's blog, this post on Designing Minds - eight student illustrators and eight student graphic designers combine their varying skill sets for a common goal. This collaboration sparks innovative concepts and intense connections. Of course, Veerle's blog is full of tutorials and so much more. Go see.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Ira Glass encouraging us on being creative on YouTube via Uplifting Arts. I needed to hear that right now. I am cleaning and organizing fabric in my sewing room and clearing crap from my art studio, Unclutterer.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Mom and I were invited to a wonderful brunch today. I sawfriends from Seattle PI that I haven't seen in many years and it was great to visit and catch up. Talked about friends we miss (looks like they blog now) that we haven't seen in a long time and should call. Did I ever mention I put my flowers photos on My Seattle Pix.

Saturday, August 09, 2008

We were watching the CBUT for the opening ceremonies and saw the promo for the second season of "The Tudors" (note for those of you able to watch CBC ... this begin Sept. 30!) So the first question where is the first season! It looks like they will be showing the first season later this month and early September. Guess you could purchase the first season.

Interesting podcast of special features such as The King's Table: Tudor Cooking, Cardinal Wolsey: The power behind the throne and The Six Wives of Henry VIII. So now I know I have something to look forward to in September!

It has been 4 days since I shot the Texas Bush and started this post. My life seems very much out of my control lately. Lots of work. Getting up so early is so demanding that I go to bed early and keep myself on schedule. I feel like I miss out out on much of my life. But... the good news is ... I am on vacation for the next two weeks. My time is my own for two weeks! Woo Hoo!

I love my "Texas bush" ... it reminds me of when I was a kid in Texas! And that makes me happy.

"In his new book, The Way of the World, Suskind writes about a secret meeting in early 2003 in which intelligence officials were told by Iraq's ihttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifntelligence chief, Tahir Jalil Habbush, that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction. According to his book, the Bush administration then buried the report."

And on the subject on "insane wars", have been watching, or trying to watch, HBO's Generation Kill. It makes me very uncomfortable to watch ... very much like when I watch The Office. It feels wrong to have a series on about a war that is still very active. But I am hoping to glean something from it.

The director Roland Emmerich, best known for his high-budget, spectacle-filled films like “10,000 BC” and “Independence Day,” told his designer, John Teall, to make his house "as nonfrumpy as possible." There is nothing I don't love about this place!

This made me cry and this made me say "do we really want to be doing this?" Well, as D pointed out about the cloning dog story, meanwhile she could be saving kids with life saving surgery, disfigurement repair ... donated all that money to PAWS, saved many of animals and gotten herself another wonderful companion. What are we thinking?

I used a variation of the art I painted in Jesse Reno's class the other day for a "bosses on the edge" story. That came in very handy since I am so busy I can hardly keep my head above water. On vacation very soon and looking forward to having some time that feels like my very own.

Sunday, August 03, 2008

12 hours later, we are done with the backyard for tonight after being out there since 8 this morning. Finally got all the little black rocks in the walkway. Everything re-potted in larger pots, laid waste and trimmed everything to the tune of a full back of the truck. My fingers are dirty. My back hurts. And I am so glad that it is all almost finished.

A little bird landed 1 ft. above my head and just sat there and looked at me. I did not move, in fear of scary it away. A hummingbird did the exact thing last month. Just flew a couple of inches above my head and gave the look ... hey, you are in MY yard-space.

I was thinking of all the wonderful things my backyard had taught me ... patience, nature, all about seeds, sharing plants and seed and knowledge, birds, flowers, photographing flowers, how weeds can mimic anything, berries, the love of winter in a garden ... too many things to list. But it has been the best teacher of all!